"Challenge is the Opportunity for Greatness"

Leadership is about more than results. In our frenetic, short-term focused world, the emphasis for leaders is often on producing results as soon as possible. Although delivering results is a critical success factor for leaders, the real responsibility is how those results are achieved. What differentiates truly great leaders from  others is how the leader worked with people to create those results.

Although narcissists and power-mongers still make it to senior leadership roles, the factor that differentiates the most successful leader (and the one who will be remembered for their positive impact) are those that excel in the "soft skills". You can command people in the short-term but the effective leader knows that to achieve lasting success and gain the commitment and engagement of people to come together to create meaningful results lies in your ability to motivate and inspire with passion and a positive attitude.

The concept of leadership can be a romantic notion at times and may mean different things to different people. Leaders operate in many different arenas ... business, social, community, political, and the military. But the underlying definition of leadership is to influence the behavior and attitudes of others to create valued outcomes by being a catalyst for change. The essence of leadership lies in how well leaders get people to change their behaviors and do things they would not otherwise have done to achieve a meaningful result.

A responsible leader will first and foremost recognize the importance of people in the equation of leadership and that how people are treated will be the lever for success or failure. Leaders may have the title and position but the workforce will decide if they will be effective or not.

Many times,  potentially great leaders are derailed by too great a focus on pleasing external stakeholders, clients, or executing against the strategy. All these factors are important yet the only way to deliver real results with any sustainability will be founded in the relationship the leader has with the people in their organization. We are done, as a society, with the paternalistic approach that the lone leader knows what is best for us and will tell us what to do for our own good. We have developed into a thinking, knowledgeable society that can make our own decisions where inclusion and respect are requirements for engagement. Ignore your people at your peril.

A study was completed (Kouzes and Posner's The Leadership Challenge) to identify what people valued as characteristics in a great leader. More than 20,000 workers responded to the survey. What resulted was a framework for leaders who want to have a lasting impact. In order, the characteristics employees valued most in leaders are:

1. Honesty: people want to have faith that leaders can be trusted and deal with them ethically and with integrity. The credibility of a leader - and their ability to engage others - is to the greatest extent dependent upon how ethical they are in their leadership interactions.
2. Forward-looking: reactive leaders who focus on being firefighters tire workers out and lose their commitment. People follow those who have a vision of the future and show initiative in showing a way to get there with focus and purpose.
3. Inspiration: energy, enthusiasm, and a positive attitude are contagious in building an engaged workforce who will go beyond their job descriptions to deliver results. Negativity and fear will not help leaders get to the front of the competition.
4. Competence: leaders need to know their business and also show good judgment that considers people impact as well as execution efficiency.
5. Fair: motivation in the workforce jumps when people know they will be treated fairly and that each person's contribution is valued and important.
6. Supportive: leaders need to focus on their followers to succeed. Obsession with self and the leader's own success will create bitterness and turnover. Leaders who set their people up for success will create greater rewards for themselves as well.

In a nutshell, the responsibility of leadership is about treating people the way we would want to be treated. The survey did not assess effectiveness but rather the ability of a leader to be credible and admired building the engagement of their people. So, leaders can overlook people and still deliver great results - but never really achieve greatness. Particularly as our society changes with Generation Y entering the workforce, leaders who focus on their own outcomes will not succeed.

A responsible leader, however, also needs to be effective. The key to effectiveness is moving between management and leadership. Leaders have to both manage and lead but need to know how to balance the two sides and use them in the right places.

Management is about coping with complexity in the short term whereas leadership provides a vision for the future and coping with change. Management applies to planning, allocating, creating structure, and solving problems. With leadership, the focus is on setting direction, communicating and aligning people, and generating energy in followers to be motivated to move and change. Management and leadership are complementary skills and success in both areas comes down again to how you work with others to achieve the outcomes.

The responsibility of leadership in terms of both credibility and effectiveness is about the relationship with people. More than 60% of leaders will fail to achieve their potential due to poor people skills.

Where have we gone off course and how do we get back on track?

Leadership is a choice. We decide to become leaders. The road is challenging and rewarding - as a leader you can make a difference and create beneficial change. The responsibility of being a great leader comes back to using that opportunity to make a difference and change that actually benefits your people and not just you or a group of biased stakeholders. Leaders must be strong, courageous, open, and visionary to create a better place.

Too often, leaders still become lost in their own agendas. In current news we see senior leaders answering the needs of shareholders to the detriment of clients and employees - we must keep the shareholder happy! We hear of political leaders who react to whatever fire burns the brightest or what initiative will move their agenda forward - and we lose faith that anyone will show political leadership based on a vision to get us to a better future. And we see leaders making the "tough" decisions to slice and dice the workforce to cut costs to be more competitive rather than being innovative to use the power of their people's strengths to create something new and valued. Look to the investment business, look at the political arena, and look at the big corporations - what do you see in leadership that inspires and motivates you. Very little - some glimpses of hope here and there but not much.

We need leaders more than ever. With the great uncertainty we see in our world, we want people with a passion and vision to make sense of the future, who will make the difficult decisions with honesty and transparency (even though it may hurt all of us a little), and, quite simply, who will actually sincerely care about the responsibility they have assumed as leaders to the people that they lead. That is what we need.

Leaders need to show responsibility by assessing and evaluating their credibility and effectiveness. Gain the honest feedback to understand how they are perceived today, where are they strong, and where do they need to develop. The best feedback is, of course, from the people they lead. Tools are easily available to provide that feedback and leaders need to take advantage of it. Not only that, leaders need to take the feedback in, hear it, feel it, and make a plan for change so they can have a greater positive impact.

Leaders can only lead if people are willing to follow. What worked in the past will no longer be an option. People are smarter and opportunities are greater - we have options and we want leaders who we can believe in. We want leaders who are responsible. We are tired of political speeches - we want the credibility of a leader who will do the right things to show us a bigger future. Be that leader.

For further information on our customized leadership assessment programs, please contact Jamie O’Neill at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and make a difference for your organization.

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